A Game of Astropolitics
by TenBackwards
Summary: In a new era of unprecedented technological progress, where doubts will be cast on certainties that have stood since time immemorial, a nascent Alliance stands poised to take its place among the great powers of the galaxy. Far away, across the sea of stars, the riches of the Traverse and Terminus beckon. But the game is just a sideshow. The eternal ones are awakening.
1. 1-01: Polling Day

_The dust has settled at the graveyard of Capella, where the Alliance was believed to have again survived against the Shivan menace. After the rebellion of the NTF and the crisis at Capella, the turbulent rule of Toqueville's Coalition government has restored a tentative calm to a greatly troubled Alliance. While the Great Destroyers may have been sealed away for now, they will soon prove themselves more awakened and powerful than ever._

 _Matthias Coleman is the leader of the League, and will soon be elected Secretary-General of the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance, destined to be the greatest civilization ever to span the galaxy. His ascension, to a long and prosperous reign, marks the beginning of an age that is to last all the way up until the Great Galactic War._

 _In a new era of unprecedented technological progress, doubts will be cast on certainties that have stood since time immemorial, and new dogmas will rise in their place. A nascent Alliance is poised to take its place amongst the great powers of the galaxy. A hegemonic Council is desperate to hold onto power in the wake of a rising Coalition. Within the shadowy depths of the Alliance's GTVI division, the gears of the Special Operations Command churn away at the dominance of the Citadel's Spectres. Far away, across the sea of stars, the riches of the Terminus and Traverse beckon._

 _This is their story. A story of politics, diplomacy, intrigue, and war. A game of Astropolitics._

* * *

 _/Reworked this chapter to remove similarities to modern day political events._

 **Delta Serpentis - Janus - Syrk - Coleman residence**

 **June 2, 2377**

Matthias Coleman, leader of the League, returned to his tower penthouse not far from the seat of government in the Alliance for perhaps the first time in weeks after an extraordinary close and bitter campaign, was finally sat in the rather comfortable-looking couch, surrounded by augmented reality displays of various monitors and screens, each displaying a separate newsfeed for the election's results, though only one taking center stage and with any sound audible, with the bottom status bar collecting, processing, and tallying up data down to a single sequence of numbers: The number of seats that each party had won.

The clock hit midnight, universal coordinated time. "The polls have now closed," reported the rather distinguished looking, Grey-haired gentleman on the screen, and now, the moment of truth, "Exit polling has the League at two hundred and ninety, very close to a full majority. We expect non-ordinary votes to be declared very soon."

He grinned, and leaned back in his couch, raising his glass of 2324 Aldebaran vintage to the screens as the filler content proceeded, colleague from the League Nicole Greene sitting with her counterparts from the other parties, discussing the results, the policy out comes, and trying to spin it all to a success no matter the outcome.

"Now, we're confident that the non-ordinary votes will favor the League as always," remarked his soon-to-be defense minister. The election analyst standing next to his own antiquated flat-screen projection replied almost academically, "Well, in the past two elections they have favored the League with a margin of roughly five percent, but in the grand scheme of things of course that's only tallied to a one point five percent swing in the overall results."

He continued on as the projection he used to explain to the audience changed to a view of the planet of Janus, capital world of the GTVA, "Now, Janus has, of course, always been the first to declare, and has just finished counting. The League has won thirty seats out of sixty-five in the capitol world of the Alliance. The traditional bellwether, no party has ever formed government without coming first in Delta Serpentis…"

The central projection flashed for a moment, and was immediately replaced by the results for Delta Serpentis, 72% counted, Janus being the sole major population centre in the system. Leauge, thirty and a half of the fifteen-million vote quotas. Coalition, nineteen point four, and the Democrats and People's Party both hovering just below seven.

As the time passed, status bar projection below ticked up, fifty for the League, thirty-eight for the Coalition, sixteen Democrats, twelve Reform, nine People's Party, before the fifty for the League flipped and dropped down to forty-seven.

"Results have just come in from Deneb, and it's a real shock with the People's Party coming first, and Reform in second…"

For the Coalition, up to eighty. Reform, People's Party, Democrats, nine, fifteen, ten. And the League, ninety-two.

"A strong showing from the Democrats, this is the first time they've passed the threshold in Beta Aquilae, with the Coalition projected to win half the seats and the League a third. No surprises here, really…"

One thirty-three… later votes on the outer rim worlds have always favored the League…

"We can confirm now that Delta Serpentis has finished counting and is distributing preferences. It will come down to the Democrat and Reform preferences for the last three seats in the system, as the League and Coalition are on a knife edge of a margin…"

Two hundred… Beta Aquilae will declare soon, and the polls were unmistakably pointing to the League carrying the world…

"Final results are in for Beta Aquilae. This is only the second time since the Great War that the People's Party has carried the most votes," explained the man on the screen as the historical voting record of the system flashed up on the left, and the opinion polling and trend line on the right of the full results breakdown, with both pointing to a comfortable League plurality.

Two-fifty… he clenched his glass tightly…

"At three twenty-two universal coordinated time, the Electoral Commission has just declared full results. The Unity and Liberation League has two hundred fifty-six seats, followed by the Coalition with just shy of two hundred, the People's Party with sixty-eight, Reform on fifty-eight, and the Democrats with a record high of thirty."

Two hundred and fifty six.

Staring at the screen for a good half-minute in disbelief, he picked up his PDA and called the lead of his campaign team.

"What the hell happened?"

* * *

 **Serpent Nebula – Widow – Citadel – Citadel Tower**

"We have no reason to believe that a League government will be willing to implement a more assertive foreign policy. In fact, we can expect them to pursue a more isolationist stance if they are indeed forced into coalition with Reform as the initial results indicate."

The Salarian councilor's response was, of course, calm as ever. After all, his analysts did spend thousands upon thousands of manhours poring through every last bit of minutiae in each and every major party's manifesto in order to prepare for every possible result. He grinned slightly, so slightly as to be almost invisible.

"There are no guarantees. Both parties have repeatedly stated their intentions to withdraw from the Agreement as it stands, an act paramount to withdrawal from the galactic community," retorted his Turian contemporary.

"Perhaps, but as always, we will have the upper hand in the negotiations to come," replied Councillor Valern confidently. "If they fail to produce agreeable terms for us, all trade and technology exchange will cease and they will be left as a galactic backwater. And this, the Alliance is aware of," he continued.

"Of course, that is only as a last resort," added Councillor Tevos.

"Yes, of course," agreed Valern with a nod.

Spartaus sighed, and continued to speak, "There is always the possibility that the League's negotations with Reform fail. If that happens, any government would have to be backed by the Democrats, a worst case scenario by any means."

"All of the Terran parties have explicitly ruled out accepting the Democrats in government," reminded Tevos. "The most likely scenarios if that happens either fresh elections, or a return of the Toqueville government, which is our best case scenario."

"Perhaps," the Turian mused. "Nevertheless, the Hegemony's stance remains unchanged. Should the Terrans wish to repudiate or renegotiate the agreement, we should not allow them to get off lightly. We need to press for hard terms."

"Pursuing closer integration so far has only resulted in the Terran peoples electing the League in protest, and it is doubtful they will be as amicable to negotiations," agreed Valern.

The Asari councillor stood up and sighed, "Very well. I must remind you, the Terrans are still a young species, with an extensive history of conflict. It is just as likely that they accept no deal at all over a deal that doesn't favour them," she said with warnings.

* * *

 ** _Codex - Milky Way / GTVA Core Systems / Laramis System / Venice_**

 _Orbital Distance: 4.264 AU_

 _Orbital Period: 6.4 Earth Years_

 _Keplerian Ratio: 2.4_

 _Radius: 9,020 km_

 _Day Length: 11 Earth Hours_

 _Atm. Pressure: 1.12 atm_

 _Surface Temp: 13°C_

 _Surface Gravity: 1.43 g_

 _Mass: 2.86 Earth Masses_

 _Satellites: N/A_

 _Venice is a terrestrial world within the Laramis system. The second planet in the system, Venice's atmosphere is almost entirely consisted of Argon gas, rendering the atmosphere impossible to breathe to the Terrans who inhabit the planet. Despite this, Venice remains an important part of the Terran GTVA, as it is a pristine world by any measure and rich in mineral resources._

 _A key manufacturing hub in the GTVA, Venice is the site of the RNI shipyards, responsible for production of the Aeolus cruiser, and comprises over seven percent of the entire GTVA's industrial production._

 _The primary import of Venice is edible foodstuffs, as the soil and atmosphere composition of Venice renders the vast majority of Terran crops impossible to grow naturally on Venice, and the heavy industries of Venice hinder hydroponic crop growth._

 _TRAVEL ADVISORY: Due to the considerable distance between the systems in the area known as the GTVA core and the nearest currently active mass relay, travelers are advised to ensure sufficient fuel supplies to make the trip._


	2. 1-02: The Work of Government

_/I'd just like to note for the record that the similarities with this story and modern politics are actually, in fact, quite coincidental, surprisingly enough. I started this draft of the greater story in ~mid 2015, only now finding it again and committing to finishing this story._

* * *

 **Delta Serpentis - Janus - Syrk – House of Assembly**

 **June 5, 2377**

Matthias Coleman, impeccably dressed in a proper business suit and tie, carrying a folder under his arm took a seat around the round glass table, followed suit only by his deputy, ready for the meeting between the League and Reform's leaders, to discuss terms of coalition, terms of the next government of the Alliance.

He placed the folder down gently on the table, "Very well then.", nodding at Reform's Paul Roberts, perhaps the next Deputy Secretary-General of the Alliance, who soon explained, "Our key pillars, are, of course, increased autonomy for local solar and planetary governments, construction of the Valhalla station at the Serpentis jump node in Canning, doubling funding to the ADRO,"

"Funding the ADRO, we can work with that," chuckled League Deputy Leader Nikita Weaver.

"Excellent. I believe we have consensus so far on these issues," spoke Coleman, and the four present nodded along waiting for him to finish taking out his ball point pen, old fashioned as it was in the 24th century, and writing down the minutes of the meeting so far in the folder.

"And, of course, repudiation of article three of the ten-point agreement."

If the room was quiet before, the silence was absolutely deafening now as those words were uttered. Repudiation of article 3, compliance with Citadel law. The single greatest divide within the League and indeed the Alliance ever since the Agreement, article 3 was both the end of the Alliance as an independent, sovereign entity and the pathway to integration with the galaxy at large.

His League counterpart cleared his throat before responding, "Very well," and now with his fingers laced, and a determined expression, continued, "We have, of course, championed the renegotiation of the agreement as one of our own policy planks." His own party, the Alliance, they've all spent enough time on this issue. It was time to settle it. "We are now willing to demand the full repudiation of article three in this renegotiation." It was time to be bold, to win government, to take Humanity and ascend onto the galactic stage. If an article of a soon-to-be-dead compact had to be repudiated along the way, so be it.

Reform leader Paul Roberts grinned. "And the coalition issue?"

"We've agreed on simply commuting to your Roberts as Deputy Secretary-General, and accept a formal coalition for this term of government," he responded with a nod, and the very slightest hint of a smile. Roberts responded simply with a nod, "Excellent."

"Very well, gentlemen. I believe this concludes today's meeting," Coleman said as he stood up, shaking hands with the League's leaders on the way out.

He opened the door, and immediately was greeted by a multitude of camera and recording drones, reporters holding up their microphones, crowding around him and his colleagues. "Mister Coleman, sir!" "Do you believe you'll be able to form a government, sir?"

He stopped for a moment, but only a moment.

"I can confirm that we have had an excellently productive meeting with Reform, and we do expect to be able to form a formal coalition agreement within this week."

The reporters were unrelenting, "What about mister Toqueville, sir?" "The Democrats, sir?" but the leader of the League stood firm as he waded through the crowd.

"That will be all."

* * *

 **Delta Serpentis - GTT Laird**

 **June 23, 2377**

Galactic Terran-Vasudan Ambassador to the Citadel Council Annette Denman checked the diplomatic briefing from the newly elected Coleman-Roberts government, in hope that she was just missing something, that there was some sort of mistake in these orders. A full repudiation of the third article of the Ten-Point Agreement, and a full renegotiation of the rest. Perhaps the most generous offer ever provided by the Citadel to a galactic power, the agreement exempting the Alliance from Farixen, granting the Alliance full authority over their systems, and setting out a pathway for the Alliance to join as an associate member was going to be torn up.

She gazed out the window of the Majesty-class transport, perhaps for the last time, and sighed. All the stars out there, all the paths, all the possibilities, and yet, this was the path that the Terran people, her people, had chosen. Looking down at her electronic notepad projected by her PDA, she continued to type out her resignation as ambassador until the most surprising call came in - from the Asari diplomat Irissa, and she put it on the projection.

"Greetings, Ambassador." The Asari's voice and expression were almost upbeat, suspiciously so given the circumstance. They must have known what the League and Reform had campaigned on, and now they're actually going to do it. "The Asari Republics would like to convey their congratulations on a successful election and a peaceful transition of power. Truly, your nation is a model star democracy."

The standard canned line, to maintain relationships after a new government. She smiled, and nodded "thank you" in response as custom. "The Alliance has a proud tradition of democracy that we are committed to standing by, even in these trying times." And trying the times were indeed.

"Of course. If we could talk securely?" asked the Asari diplomat. It wouldn't take a trained foreign affairs student to notice that now that the formalities were over with, the backroom dealings would begin.

The Terran ambassador nodded. "Of course. This channel is secured."

"Off the record, some of our population is concerned at the new government's foreign policy, especially the new Secretary-General's pact with Reform, which it seems will lead to the ending of the Agreement," said Irissa in hushed tones, a hint of concern in her voice. The Terran nodded. It was no secret that, appointed by the previous Coalition government, Ambassador Denman had been a vocal advocate of stronger ties to the Council, and integration into the greater galactic community.

"Frankly, I don't agree with it either, but the Terran people have made their choice, and it is our duty as a democratic society to accept it," she said, shaking her head slightly, with a tone of resignation, of defeat.

"I see. That is… unfortunate."

"Tomorrow, I'm handing in my resignation from my position as Ambassador. Once they've found a suitable successor, I'll be announcing it to the public and leaving my post effective immediately," continued Denman. And from what she could tell, it wasn't even that surprising to the Asari, if her expression and the lack of pause before any further reply was anything to go by.

"Why must you resign? The bond between the Alliance and the Citadel is now more fragile than ever. I advise you, stay, and do your best to keep the situation steady in these tumultuous times," replied the Asari diplomat, in a way that almost suggested she expected this from the Ambassador.

She exhaled sharply, and looked down while responding, "My conscience does not permit me to serve under a government whose foreign policy I sharply disagree with, and I've been on record stating that a break with the Citadel would be disastrous for us."

"You are the link between the Council and the Alliance. If you go, who else will Coleman appoint? I urge you, stay and fight, for the ideals that you believe in." She wasn't wrong.

"Nothing's set in stone yet." And with that, the Ambassador neither confirmed nor denied that she would be reconsidering her resignation, in standard political-diplomatic fashion, leaving every possible option open.

"Very well. I hope you will make the right decision."

She nodded, and with that, the call was over.

* * *

 _ **Tech room: GTT Majesty**_

 _Officially designated as a heavy transport, the Majesty is a cruiser-sized ship designed for secure transport of personnel or goods between solar systems. Often used as a VIP transport for important diplomatic or political functions, the superstructure of the Majesty is uniquely designed to minimize subspace sensor profiles, and is exceptionally well armored for a civilian craft, using military-grade Molybdenum armor plating._

 _Based on the highly successful Deimos class, the Sahr-engineered drive system and reactor of the Majesty are very_ _efficient, producing a slight excess of energy under normal operating loads and allowing for high maneuverability in both subspace and real-space terms. The Majesty also features a highly modular design, allowing sections to be swapped out for different purposes or to transport different articles when docked to an installation. The mounting and ammo feed system for its four turreted flak guns is also found within a modular section. In the turbulent times just following Capella, it was not uncommon to see modified Majesty transports jury-rigged with heavy weaponry to serve as makeshift cruisers, by either local authorities or pirate forces._


	3. 1-03: The Expedition

**Laramis – Venice – Kingsford-Smith – Ritcher spaceport**

 **July 9, 2377**

"In the General Assembly, the new Coleman government passed a resolution allowing unfettered access to the system of Canning beyond the Sol Gate. Entrepreneurs and scientists are hailing this as an important step forward for the recovering Terran economy, while others are more cautious about the reaction of the Citadel powers. Meanwhile, financial markets..."

The man sitting at departure lounge 23 switched his PDA's newsfeed off, stood up and looked around, searching for this Sophia Ng-Mae he was supposed to meet. His eyes glazed over the various passengers of his scheduled flight, glancing over a few unique characters just to be sure and yet could find no trace of his contact. He sighed and sat back down, returning to the news.

"The discontinuation of the HL-7 series of fighter armaments, causing a projected drop in Subach-Innes shares once trading re-opens, as well as as Triton Dynamics' recent announcement that..."

His concentration was broken by a tap on his shoulder. Looking up and to the left, where it came from, he saw a short-haired woman in neat business attire, grinning, and saying, "Benjamin Mixael, I presume?"

"Yeah, that's me," he responded, slightly disoriented, and asked back, "Miss Ng-Mae?" to which the response was smply a nod. She sat down on the bench, one seat to the left of him. "I understand your posting on the Echo begins shortly. We'd like to offer you a simple agreement, which we believe will be mutually beneficial and non-disruptive to any of your other activities."

He looked skeptical, but still intrigued, and nodded and responded, "I'm listening."

"Simply put, we'd like to offer you a deal. For any pieces of information transferred to us with this secure transmitter," she held up a small, finger-sized device with an ordinary PDA attachment port, "we will be willing to pay a flat rate per report, plus extra determined by the value of the information provided."

He pondered for a moment, and then raised his eyebrows, "Are you sure this is entirely legal?" The response came quickly, "All of this is entirely above board and complies with all General Assembly resolutions concerning the transfer of research data," she said, yet the man's expression remained unchanged. Seeing this, she continued on. "I assure you, we won't be releasing anything you decide to transmit before it's already gone public, or using it in any underhanded manners."

The man sighed. "I'm still not sure about this," he said, pointedly looking away from the woman next to her and instead gazing out the massive reinforced window. Despite this, said woman nodded along, and replied in a comforting manner, "You don't have to make any decisions straight away. Just keep it with you until you're ready."

* * *

 **Canning – GTSC Echo – Bridge**

 **September 25, 2377**

The McCallum relay.

So named after the captain of the very ship he was on, and the first to enter the newly discovered system after activation of the Sol Gate, one of the greatest mysteries of the universe ever since the discovery of the new system and the contact with the Citadel, Ben Mixael gazed out, again trying to analyze the rotation of the great rings around the construct, to put together any discernible pattern in the movement of the rings, to figure out just what makes this great contraption tick.

Even after first contact, even after signing the Agreement, these massive devices, these mass relays still proved to be a mystery. Despite constant insistence from the old Coalition government, the Citadel never gave the keys of these relays to the Alliance, and now with times more turbulent than ever, it was doubtful they ever would.

And that made his job as science officer onboard the Echo that much more important – if the Citadel wasn't willing to risk human expansion through these relays, and yesterday's government too cowardly to stand up to the Citadel and study these devices independently, then it was very well now or never.

But complaining about the politicians of the past would have to take a backseat, as the bridge awakened to a short ping from the onboard computer, notifying the crew of another completed scan and analysis, which his fellow researcher Will Parkinson duly reported, "We're still not reading anything from the relay, sir, not even from the core. It all seems too… mundane, really."

"Mundane? That can't possibly be. No electromagnetic anomalies, or radiation spikes? Even after a meson burst ping?" he asked. The response was immediate, "No, it's all just background radiation. We can't get a decent read on this thing."

It was serene, in a way, and majestic. The great rings rotating around the core of pure energy, the arms braching around the core and pointing off into space, the construction of this great contraption was like nothing he had ever seen, Terran, Vasudan, Shivan or even Ancient and yet, just another mystery to be solved, another gate to be unlocked.

He nodded, "Alright. Try a high-frequency EM burst. Use our ship comms to ampify the effect, let's hope for something this time."

"Alright, charging." And with that, he could audibly percieve the ship's capacitors whining, as subtle as it was, under the stress of charging such a blast of radiation.

Though the next thing he heard was definitely not what he expected, not a release of energy across the void and towards the relay; instead, a blaring siren, and the almost-shouting of the ship's first mate. "Jump flash! Citadel cruiser emerging, twenty clicks out. We're being hailed!"

He paled. On the display, the ship was clearly Turian, and he knew of their reputation, their aggression, from all the tales and articles on the 'net, it was almost impossible to not have heard of it. But why were they here?

The half-reptilian, half-alien face clad in armor and warpaint soon appeared to answer, growling translated into words, "Terran vessel. Under the authority of the Citadel Council, we hereby find you in violation of the Citadel Conventions in your attempted activation of this dormant primary relay. You will cease all operations and submit to investigation."

Not good, not good, not good. Didn't the new secretary-general, that Coleman lift the ban on exploration and research, and even endorse this expedition to study the relay? What was happening?

The Captain's voice boomed across the bridge. "Get us a line with GTVA security forces, and get us some reinforcements yesterday! Conway, hail that cruiser back. Tell 'em off, this is a Terran system and we're under Terran authority here only!"

* * *

 ** _ **Tech room: GTCv Windir**_**

 _The Windir is the first warship class designed after the lessons of the Capella incident. Initially envisioned as a capital ship brawler armed with destroyer-grade beam cannons, the Windir design was hastily redrawn as an artillery and support corvette with six long-range tactical plasma cannons and a small hangarbay, allowing for operation of two wings of fighters. The Windir's long-range armament coupled with some of the most advanced targeting and precision turret control electronics to date allow it to outpace and out-range even Sathanas juggenauts, softening them up for a massed combined arms strike._


	4. 1-04: Standoff

**Canning – Turian Hierarchy Vessel Leto – Bridge**

"Negative, Turian. We've already confirmed we're NOT going to activate this relay. All else is classified. Stand down, damnit!"

Desolas Arterius, Captain of the Leto sighed. If these Terrans weren't seeing reason, perhaps this was the only possible choice.

"Very well. Operations, Tactical, prepare to disable that craft," ordered the ship's captain, and the bridge became abuzz with activity, frantic beeping, pinging, and sensor tones filling the bridge as the ship shuddered to life, engines at full thrust, weapons charging.

But in a moment, without warning, without reason, the ship's viewscreen automatically changed to display an empty patch of space, and the bridge went silent.

Captain Desolas knew, almost instinctively, what this meant. Under the Salarian-designed tactical awareness network standard currently installed on the bridge of the Nightingale, the primary bridge viewscreen and supporting systems are programmed to, in the case of a critical event, automatically override manual settings and display the event immediately on the primary viewscreen.

Which would mean that something massive, something terribly important, something had to have just happened in a patch of empty space.

It only took a moment for him to realize what this meant, but a moment was too long, and the portal opened before he could react. A portal of swirling blue and cyan, just the size for a frigate such as the Nightingale to traverse ripped through space and time in what would have seemed like a scientific and technological impossibility just a year ago.

And then a block of matte gray armor, lit only by a single row of what appeared to be viewports poured through.

He didn't have to think hard about what it meant, nor did he have time to as the ship's system reacted immediately to the arrival of the 'Victorious', concluding all manner of scans, calculations, and warnings.

"Terran warship emerging! Reading two hundred and seventy meters in length, six heavy cannons of unknown type on twin turret mounts, and two massive thermal signatures located in what appear to be forwards weapon mounts!"

While the 'Victorious' was clearly the size of a frigate, it certainly followed no standard doctrine in known history. Certainly bulky enough to perhaps have its mass exceed that of even a Council cruiser, but the fact that there were no element zero emissions at all confirmed it as a Terran ship, through and through. In addition, six turrets and the positioning of the forward weapon mounts suggested a lack of a true main mass accelerator.

But it was certainly a military vessel which met all criteria to be classified as a frigate, and, barring a miracle, he knew it would be down to tactical doctrine, ship design, and technological development to dictate what happens next. This bold move confirmed, in his mind, what he was thinking. These Terrans were up to something at this relay, from the refusal of the science vessel to provide any information about their activities, to the arrival of a fully armed warship.

"The Victorious is sending us an audio message. Playing now," reported the ship's officer stationed at the strategic command console.

"This is the Terran cruiser Victorious to the Turian vessel Leto. By attempting to commandeer a GTVA vessel, you are hereby in violation of common Terran-Vasudan law. You are ordered to power down your weapons and engines, and stand down your ship."

* * *

 **GTC Victorious – Bridge**

"Sir, the Leto is responding," reported the ship's communication officer. The translated voice followed, underlying growling clearly marking the originator as Turian. "Your ship is in violation of galaxy-wide regulations under the Citadel Conventions. You are to stand down, and allow us to carry out our peacekeeping operation."

The captain shook his head. The Agreement clearly set out the supremacy of Terran-Vasudan law over the Citadel in this system, so why was this one particular craft being so obstinate about this? What were they thinking, what were they planning?

He nodded to his comms officer, who nodded back, sending another message to them. "The Alliance is the only legitimate authority in this system, Turian. You are to stand down. We are authorized to use military force if you do not comply." Maybe this one would get through to them. Maybe they could still avoid a conflict.

The lack of response for almost a minute gave hope, hope that turned out to be false when alarms started blaring across the bridge, alerting the command crew to the arrival of another vessel, tactical officer duly reporting, "Unknown vessel exiting FTL three clicks above the Leto, similar construction but larger, five hundred fifty meters in length. Designating as THCv Polus."

The message was clear – The Citadel has chosen to escalate, to play a game of brinkmanship instead of work out a diplomatic solution. So be it.

* * *

 **Delta Serpentis – Janus – Syrk – House of Assembly**

Secretary-General Matthias Coleman was immediately jolted to full alertness by the ringing of the so-called 'red line' and the flashing notifications all around him. Activating the communications projector, he was greeted by the familiar face of Admiral Cartwright, commanding officer of the destroyer Hephaestus and the 3rd Terran Fleet, formerly based in Capella, and now of Delta Serpentis and, provisionally, the new system of Canning.

"Admiral." He knew what this meant. A transmission on this channel was reserved for critical messages, such a a colonial crisis caused by an uprising, an incident between the Terran and Vasudan navies, or even the sighting of a Shivan craft.

"Situation report as follows. A standoff has developed in Canning. A Citadel cruiser has attempted to commandeer an allied Terran science ship citing violations of the Citadel conventions and Citadel law, which the allied cruiser Victorious was deployed in response to. The Citadel has escalated with the deployment of a corvette, which we have reciprocated by deploying the Actium."

The Terran Secretary-General's immediate expression was pensive, yet had the faintest hint of disgust. This couldn't be intentional. Even the original agreement signed over sovereignty of the system over to the Alliance, and accepted the supremacy of Alliance law over Citadel law in Alliance-controlled systems.

And yet, what if it was? Could it be a test of the new government, of just how far he was willing to go? Was it a daring political play?

"Situation has remained diplomatic but is rapidly deteriorating. Both sides have ordered the other to power down and surrender for violations of common law," continued the Admiral, pausing for a moment.

The Admiral seemed to notice the look on the Secretary-General's face, adding on, in quite the informal manner, "Be careful, Coleman. This crisis could very well escalate into a galactic war."

The Secretary-General of the Alliance nodded. "Have the cruiser at the beacon activate it and get me a direct link with the Citadel's ambassadors, now. And try to buy us some time before the shooting starts, damn it," commanded Secretary-General Coleman, determined, yet with a concerned expression on his face, fist clenched yet passively resting on the desk. The Admiral nodded, and the communications projection switched off accordingly.

"Secretary-General Matthias Coleman, Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance. We have just been made aware of a situation developing in the system of Canning. A Turian vessel has attempted to commandeer a Terran science cruiser. Be aware, we will protect our people and our vessels against any aggression if necessary."

* * *

 _ **Tech room: GTD Hecate Block-3**_

 _The Block-3 refit for the Hecate destroyer was developed shortly after the Capella catastrophe as a crash modernization program for the Hecate to rectify weaknesses that became apparent during the Second Shivan Incursion and further expand the Hecate's capabilities. Designed primarily as a carrier and command destroyer rather than a battleship, the Hecate's strikecraft were envisioned as the primary weapon system of the Hecate rather than conventional beam cannon armament. Although the Second Shivan Incursion proved the capability of the Hecate as a carrier, it also highlighted the Hecate's weaknesses in direct combat._

 _While in part allowing its relative ease of production and low cost, the Hecate's powergrid was conventional and relatively weak even for its time, leading to its anemic beam armament of only four 'Falchion' slash beams and a single 'Claymore' heavy beam. Taking cues from the Shivan Ravana destroyer, the Block-3 refit primarily focuses the Hecate's anti-capital firepower on its forward quarter by sacrificing the rear and forward 'Falchion' slash beams to mount a second 'Claymore' heavy beam on a forward mount._


End file.
